Development toward high-power sub-1-ohm DC-67 GHz RF switches using phase change materials for reconfigurable RF front-end

Abstract

We report GeTe-based phase change material RF switches with on-state resistance of 0.07 ohm*mm and off-state capacitance of 20 fF/mm. The RF switch figure-of-merit, Ron*Coff is comparable to RF MEMS ohmic switches. The PCM RF shunt and series switches were fabricated for the first time in a lateral FET configuration to reduce parasitics, different from the vertical via switches. In a shunt switch configuration, isolation of 30 dB was achieved up to 67 GHz with return loss of 15 dB. RF power handling was tested with ~10 W for series and 3 W for shunt configurations. Harmonic powers were suppressed more than 100 dBc at fundamental power of 1 W, for future tunable and reconfigurable RF technology.